Yes, it was me. I knew you'd love it. Just the pictures alone are worth it. From about 1990 to 2000 there was a spate of amazing skating books published, that being one of the best because the COI program involved so many of our favorite skaters. The Stars on Ice book was also lovely but of course dealt with fewer skaters. Sandra Bezic's book, A Passion to Skate, and Brian Boitano's book, Boitano's Edge, were also coffee-table-size books with loads of photos as well as insights into skating. I felt guilty splurging on all of them, plus the paperback edition of Scott's memoirs (just a regular small paperback, with text and a little photo section--nicely written), but as it turned out I was right to do so, because almost nothing is available these days in terms of skating books. There are no great touring companies, and I guess publishers don't feel there are enough skating fans to support any sizable books being printed. By sheer good luck I came across Tessa and Scott's book, a big colorful tome. But that's about it nowadays. A much better situation for my budget, and I don't have to live on beans.

Beans are goood for you! But meat tastes better.... What I like about this book is the way it is layed out. Year by year. And all the cast with the cast pics and the number of cities and shows done. You can see skating's peak with this book, but there is also wonderful text and other pics....Amazon is wonderful. And it is good for the environment. I buy a book for 50 cents, it is shipped for $4 and I love it. I didnt waste one drop of fossil fuel. I cant believe MK did 9 COI tours by the time she was 22....
Can you imagine doing 70 shows? Wow...those were the days, my friend, we thought they would never end......[QUOTE=Olympia;714021]

Yes, it was me. I knew you'd love it. Just the pictures alone are worth it. From about 1990 to 2000 there was a spate of amazing skating books published, that being one of the best because the COI program involved so many of our favorite skaters. The Stars on Ice book was also lovely but of course dealt with fewer skaters. Sandra Bezic's book, A Passion to Skate, and Brian Boitano's book, Boitano's Edge, were also coffee-table-size books with loads of photos as well as insights into skating. I felt guilty splurging on all of them, plus the paperback edition of Scott's memoirs (just a regular small paperback, with text and a little photo section--nicely written), but as it turned out I was right to do so, because almost nothing is available these days in terms of skating books. There are no great touring companies, and I guess publishers don't feel there are enough skating fans to support any sizable books being printed. By sheer good luck I came across Tessa and Scott's book, a big colorful tome. But that's about it nowadays. A much better situation for my budget, and I don't have to live on beans.

I just got a new skating book. Well, it's not new; it's from about 2007. But it's more recent than any of my other books, which all tend to be from around 2000 or earlier. There's a real dearth of skating books being put out now, but I've had my eye on this one for awhile. It's called Figure Skating Today: The Next Wave of Stars. Although it's a paperback, it has some good-sized photos.

It's of the ideal moment in skating, when some of the pre-Torino skaters were still competing but when many of the Vancouver ones were already in the mix. So there are photos of Dubreuil/Lauzon and Denkova/Staviskiy and also of Virtue/Moir and Davis/White. Sasha and Shizuka are there, and Kimmie Meissner is at her peak, but Mao Asada and YuNa Kim are also featured. Lambiel is photographed and so is Takahashi. I'm so glad I finally sprang for it. I've thereby reduced the inventory of skating books at my local bookstore by 50%. There's some strange coffee table book about skating in the arts--all kinds of sculptures and suchlike through the years. I can resist!